Britain has worse mobile internet coverage than Romania, Albania and Peru and suffers from vast “digital deserts”, a report has found.

A new investigation by the Government’s National Infrastructure Commission has found that 80 per cent of rural premises are in a “not-spot” for 4G coverage.

The Commission found that the UK is in 54th position in global rankings for 4G, with typical users able to access the service only 53 per cent of the time.

It warned that Britain is "languishing in the digital slow lane" and that even major city centres are lacking coverage.

The NIC, which is chaired by former Labour Cabinet member Lord Adonis, called on the Government to step in to ensure that basic talk, text and data services are available to all Britons, wherever they live, work and travel, and to make the country ready for next-generation 5G communications.

Countries like the USA and Japan already have data volumes four to five times higher than the UK, the report found.

The Commission called for the creation of a strong "digital champion" in Government, backed by a dedicated Cabinet minister, to drive forward change.

The Government and regulator Ofcom should develop a Universal Service Obligation requiring providers to ensure consumers can access essential services when they need them, regardless of the network they subscribe to.

Some 20 per cent of urban homes and 80 per cent of rural premises are currently in not-spot areas for 4G coverage and only 8 per cent of A and B roads have full 4G connectivity, the report found.

Even on the motorways, users fail to get either 3G or 4G almost 25 per cent of the time.

Railways are also poorly served by 4G, the report found as it called on the Government to commit to mobile broadband infrastructure on key routes by 2025.

The warnings in the report come after The Daily Telegraph’s Better Broadband campaign to improve connectivity for homes in rural areas.

Lord Adonis said: "5G is the future - ultra-fast, and ultra-reliable it has the potential to change our lives and our economy in ways we cannot even imagine today. But the UK is currently languishing in the digital slow lane.

"Britain is 54th in the world for 4G coverage, and the typical user can only access 4G barely half the time. Our 4G network is worse than Romania and Albania, Panama and Peru.

"Our roads and railways can feel like digital deserts and even our city centres are plagued by not-spots where connectivity is impossible. That isn't just frustrating, it is increasingly holding British business back as more and more of our economy requires a connected workforce."

Lord Adonis added: "5G offers us a chance to start again and get ahead. If government acts now, we can ensure our major transport networks and urban centres are 5G ready in time to give British industry every chance to lead the world in exploiting its applications.

"But none of this will matter unless we bring our mobile network up to speed. The existing system does not provide the level of coverage we will need in our connected future. We need a new universal service obligation which ensures that the mobile essentials - like text, talk and data - are available to us wherever we need them.

"From connected vehicles to the internet of things, 5G will support a whole new way of communicating and doing business. The UK must not be left behind."

Philip Hammond, the Chancellor, announced last month that more than £1billion is to be spent ensuring that millions of homes and businesses across the country have access to the “gold standard” of hyper-fast broadband.

Mr Hammond pledged that two million more homes and businesses could get “full-fibre” broadband, which has the capacity to reach speeds of more than 1Gbps.